I will use my china from our wedding for any and all holidays I deem appropriate. I will cook what I want and the meal will be served when I want. Everyone will start eating at the same time. None of our holiday plans will be centered around any television program, including football games. I lived with that for eighteen years and I will never put up with that again.

I think I like you more than ever! I also refuse to use paper napkins - I don't mind ironing, even for 40 - well, some of the tables get Corelle instead of china, but still real napkins and tablecloths.

DP would like to have, fully decorated and lit, the Christmas tree up on the Friday after Thanksgiving and have it up until January 1st. This year, thanks to the move, I'm not even sure WHERE the tree is, and if I do get it pulled out, the ornaments may be nearly anywhere in the storage room (which is piled up literally to the ceiling). AND we are going to be leaving after I get off work Wednesday to drive to Florida, where we will be until Saturday evening. It may be another week before I get to the tree (which I know is in the closet in the storage room, but that's behind ten feet of stacked boxes).

I would be perfectly content with a new, small tree decorated with some new ornaments and a few other things. She will not be OK with that (especially since this is our first Christmas without DD, who is still in Arkansas, and who we haven't seen since the move due to her schedule). I'm afraid this might be a big hill.

Heh. I have a tub full of damask napkins and linen tablecloth. We haven't used them in a few years. Maybe it's time to break 'em out! I like having them and they aren't getting more valuable or beautiful sitting in the tub out in the shed! And I CAN reach them, too!

Logged

Newly widowed, fairly cranky, prone to crying at the drop of a hat. Newly a MIL; not yet a Grandma. Keeper of chickens and dispenser of eggs! Owner of Lard Butt Noelle, kitteh extraordinaire!

Heh. I have a tub full of damask napkins and linen tablecloth. We haven't used them in a few years. Maybe it's time to break 'em out! I like having them and they aren't getting more valuable or beautiful sitting in the tub out in the shed! And I CAN reach them, too!

Amen! I hate all this stuff that's "too good" to use. People end up saving it for an occasion and then never use it even on those occasions, so it just gets wasted. I'd rather use my nice stuff and risk the occasional breakage than have it just collect dust somewhere!

DH just announced his hill to die on. It was two years ago when we did T-day at his dad's. We were invited about 2 weeks beforehand. We drove 3 hours for the lunch and would drive back home in the afternoon. FIL and his wife were aware of why we needed to be home. It ended up being basically all my FIL's wife's family (DH doesn't call her StepMom for various reasons so I will call her FILW). It was going to be FILW's two married children and their families, her mother, and 4 other friends of her family. And while we were invited, we weren't exactly welcomed. From the seating arrangements -I was basically on the corner with barely room to move- to very few people who would talk to us, it wasn't a nice visit. About the only people who would acknowledge us was FIL and FILW's 5 year old granddaughter. That was it. Dinner was postponed about half hour since FILW's son was late. No real reason was ever given. After lunch, they hung out and talked around us. So about an hour and a half of no-one really talking to DH and me being the unoffical babysitter of the little granddaughter, we looked at the clock and said that we needed to get on the road. (about 3, which is when we said that we would be going) Suddenly, we were the center of attention. We just couldn't go. They hadn't served pie yet. Why would we be leaving so soon? Pie is served, and oddly, the four friends of the family also had to leave. We are whined at that we should stay longer. I remind them that we had left the dog for the day and needed to get back to her. I was told that dog would be fine. I was the one who then pushed us along to our car (I am sure that I was considered quite rude for not wanting to stay longer)

All the way home DH was fuming. (Not at leaving, but the fact that it was very uncomfortable.)

*Why, yes, there is some additional background of weirdness with FIL and his wife. But that would take too long.

We invited them three years ago, they came in and rearranged the place cards to their liking. Leaving me with no where to sit -at my own table! 'There's not enough room for you' was actually said. I was "squeezed in" at the corner, where I did not have enough room even to put my feet at the base of my chair. Then every time I tried to talk to someone they spoke over me and when I asked for plates of food to be passed they would not make the effort to pass to me. They were actually the rudest guests I have ever had - and SIL was not pleased, but "since the family won't accommodate my family by getting reservations somewhere where we all can fit, I will be with my family, if Mark wants to be with you he can but don't expect me." Not sure what's going on there, because usually she's a lovely woman, but I will not go out for dinner just because her family must be at all holidays. She has not come to any holiday with our family since.

I also think that when the next person is killed at one of these events the cops should arrest every adult customer, the manager, and every officer in the corporation for murder. The poor retail workers should not be punished they are just trying to put food on their tables.

Seriously? How would that even work? The practical logistics alone would make it ridiculous to even attempt.

Logged

"Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies DO divert me, I own- and I laugh at them whenever I can." -Jane Austen

I also think that when the next person is killed at one of these events the cops should arrest every adult customer, the manager, and every officer in the corporation for murder. The poor retail workers should not be punished they are just trying to put food on their tables.

This is just beyond ridiculous. Write your letters (but don't think it will do any good). But I can't even comprehend what is going on in your mind here if you're even slightly serious.

Two of my kids worked at (competing) grocery stores when they were in high school. Both stores stayed open from something like 7:00am till 1:00pm for people who ran out of cinnamon for the pumpkin pie and stuff like that. The people who were willing to work those hours on that day got something like triple overtime pay, so they really didn't mind. Their families just didn't serve the Thanksgiving meal until the store workers got home.

That's my sister. We're happy to hold off dinner so she can work until 3 or so, and she does make quite a bit extra. I can't think of a single holiday hill ... judging by the length of this thread i should consider myself lucky.

Logged

It's alright, man. I'm only bleeding, man. Stay hungry, stay free, and do the best you can. ~Gaslight Anthem

I will not twist myself into a pretzel and let my inlaws or family "double dip" because one person was not available for scheduled holiday festivities.

The multi-celebration thing makes me NUTS. We used to do December 23 Christmas with my dad's family; Christmas Eve with assorted friends, staying late; Christmas Day morning with the immediate family; Christmas Day evening with my sister's in-laws. Yep, four Christmas celebrations in three days.

For sanity and reason, I had to draw a line and was looked askance at for a time. After all, everyone else just LOVES the multi-celebration.